


(Re)Connecting All the Dots

by cordeliadelayne



Series: Reconnection [2]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Episode Tag, Light Angst, M/M, Phil Needs a Hug, Season/Series 02, Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-14
Updated: 2015-04-14
Packaged: 2018-03-22 21:58:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3744889
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cordeliadelayne/pseuds/cordeliadelayne
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clint is determined to show Coulson that sharing his problems doesn't have to be a weakness.</p>
            </blockquote>





	(Re)Connecting All the Dots

**Author's Note:**

> Set after episode 207 – The Writing on the Wall and a sequel to [Lost and Found](http://archiveofourown.org/works/3696110l), though all you need to know is that Clint is aware Coulson is alive, and how.

“Guess you really did lose your mind, huh?”

Coulson sighed. “Did May call you?”

“She did.”

Coulson was very glad he couldn't see Clint's expression right now. He moved his cell to his other ear and picked up the file he'd been making notes in when Clint had first called.

“ _Clint...”_

“You weren't going to tell me, were you? You really were just going to let me go on worrying about what the writing might mean without saying a word.”

Coulson wasn't sure he had the strength to carry on this conversation. Thankfully a knock at the door seemed to bring some relief.

“Look, Clint, can we talk about this later?” he asked as he started towards the door. “There's someone at the...” He opened it and trailed off, “...door.”

“Hi,” Clint said from in front of him.

“How did you...?”

Clint held up his lanyard from around his neck. “Koenig made sure I was fixed up.”

“Of course he did.” Coulson looked down to see quite a gathering of curious agents. “You'd best come in then.” He drew Clint into his office by the elbow and then forcefully closed the door.

* * * * *

“So, who was that then?” Hunter asked.

“Coulson's booty call,” Skye said, exchanging a grin with Simmons.

“Eh, what?” Hunter spluttered. He pulled a face. “Oh, you did not just put Coulson and sex together. That's just...”

“I didn't realise Coulson swung that way,” Mack commented.

Skye turned towards him. “Problem?”

Mack gave an almost smile. “Any problems I have with Coulson, got nothing to do with who he's sleeping with.”

Skye frowned, but nodded.

“I'm sorry, Coulson's what now?” Bobbi asked. She and May were standing in the doorway, both of them carrying a large stack of files.

“Banging some dude in his office,” Hunter said.

May gave him a look. “Barton's visiting,” she explained to Bobbi.

“Clint's here?”

“Wait -” Hunter said, turning towards May and Bobbi. “Clint Barton. Your ex-husband Clint Barton, is Coulson's boy toy?”

There was a sudden exclamation as everyone started to talk over each other, until May glared them into silence.

“You went from _Hawkeye_ , to him?” Skye asked Bobbi, pointing at Hunter.

Hunter's face scrunched up even more. “Barton's _Hawkeye?_ ” he spluttered before Bobbi could answer.

“That a problem?”

Everyone turned to find Clint and Coulson standing at the top of the stairs.

“I'll uh, get back to you on that,” Hunter replied. “I'm going to...do some inventory.” And before anyone could say anything he was striding out of the room.

“Hey, Bobbi,” Clint said. He bounded down the stairs and gave her a big hug. “Good to see you.”

“You too,” she replied, hugging him back. “So,” she said as they moved apart, motioning towards Coulson, “you two finally got your heads out of your asses, then?”

Clint ducked his head and rubbed at the back of his neck. “Kinda.”

“Much as I'm enjoying Show and Tell,” Coulson interrupted, “some of us, by which I mean all of you, actually have work to do.”

The team started to move off, some more sheepishly than others, until Coulson and Clint were left alone.

“Want me to go too?” Clint asked.

Coulson's expression softened. “No, Clint, of course not.” He drew Clint closer. “There's...there’s quite a lot I have to tell you.”

Clint shrugged. “I've got nowhere else to be. Your room?”

Coulson nodded. He supposed he could leave SHIELD to look after itself for a little while.

* * * * *

They ended up laying side by side on Coulson's bed, their backs to the wall. Clint had taken off his shoes and jacket and bounced onto the bed. Coulson had more carefully removed his shoes, draped his jacket over the back of the chair and even went so far as to loosen his tie.

“I'm fine now,” Coulson said, by way of a start.

“But you weren't.”

“There wasn't anything you could have done to help.”

Coulson realised that was the wrong thing to say as soon as he said it. But then Clint had always had that affect on him.

“May filled me in some. About you tapping in to some sort of homing beacon?”

Coulson smiled. “More or less.”

“So what you thought you knew about Project Tahiti was all crap. Again.”

Coulson shifted uncomfortably on the bed. He had responsibility for what had happened on the project too. “I needed some distance before I could see it clearly.”

Clint looked thoroughly unimpressed.

“It's all connected,” Coulson ploughed on, looking doggedly straight ahead. “Tahiti, Skye, her father, Hydra. It's all leading to something, but I have no idea what.”

“And your team know all this?”

“Of course. I don't...” Coulson stopped talking and tried to reach for Clint, but he had already moved away and sat down on the only chair in the room.

“You don't keep secrets from your team. But you do keep them from me.”

“We're in the secrets business, Clint...”

Clint gave an unamused laugh. “You might be. I'm currently unemployed.”

“You're an Avenger.”

“Tell that to the tax man.”

Coulson frowned. “Are you all right? Do you...?”

“I swear to God if you're about to offer me money I'll walk out that door and never come back.”

“Clint, no, I...” Coulson drew his legs up to his chest. Suddenly he was feeling very tired. “I can barely keep the lights on. I'm in no position to...There are plenty of agencies that would take you on in a heartbeat. Hill can write you a reference.”

“I can look after myself.”

They stared at each other for a moment before Clint made a point of looking around the room. He'd already done a sweep of it when they first came in, but he didn't seem to want to talk any more. He picked up the framed “Trust in Cap” poster that matched the one Coulson kept in his office.

“Nat says hello, by the way.”

“Have you told the others?”

“I wouldn't know where to start,” Clint admitted. He put the poster back down, in exactly the spot he'd taken it from. “If it helps, she's more angry with Fury, than you.”

“I'm not entirely sure that it does.”

Clint suddenly stood up and Coulson mirrored the action.

“I shouldn't have come, should I? You've obviously got things you need to do.”

He moved towards the door, but Coulson moved to stand in front of it. “No, Clint, wait, please.” Coulson reached out and lifted up Clint's chin so they were looking into each other's eyes. “I should have...I didn't know what was happening. I was a danger to all my team – I locked Skye in a cell! - I couldn't risk...”

“And when the danger was over?”

“The danger's never going to be over.”

Clint took a step back, out of Coulson's reach. “So you’re saying we should end it before it gets complicated?”

Coulson hesitated. That had, in fact, been what he'd determined to do, long before Clint turned up outside his door, he'd just been putting off the conversation. He couldn't be completely sure that the alien blood inside him wouldn't take over in some way again. But then nor could he believe that isolating himself would solve the problem, either.

Coulson moved forward until Clint's knees were pushed up against the side of the bed. “I should have trusted you with this. I've trusted you with everything else.”

“Did you – did you just apologise? Should I be marking this day on my calendar?”

“Brat,” Coulson replied. He pushed Clint so he fell backwards on to the bed.

“The old Coulson would never admit to making a mistake,” Clint said, a little breathlessly.

“The old Coulson was an idiot.”

Coulson then dropped to his knees and began to unfasten Clint's belt and pull at his trousers.

“Can't – can't disagree with that,” Clint panted as Coulson mouthed at Clint's growing erection through his boxer's. He took a moment to appreciate Coulson on his knees. “Are you -?”

He never had the chance to finish asking the question as Coulson's mouth was suddenly on him and he bucked up, grabbing at the back of Coulson's head. If anything that spurred Coulson on even more, and Clint kept his hands there, gently keeping Coulson in place. Coulson hummed in satisfaction and Clint closed his eyes, revelling in the sensations.

Coulson moved his hands up Clint's legs, exerting just the right amount of pressure to make Clint feel like he was tied down, body unable to thrust like it wanted to, and before he knew it he was coming, hard, with Coulson taking every last drop.

“Come, come here,” Clint panted, once the world had stopped tilting. Coulson slowly did so, crawling up on to the bed and Clint wasted no time, only loosening Coulson's belt enough that he could reach inside and swipe his thumb across Coulson's cock, all the other man needed before he was coming, curling up to Clint's side as he did so.

They lay in a tangled, sticky mess for quite a while, just listening to each other breathe, Coulson's arm draped over Clint's waist and rubbing his thumb along the patch of skin exposed by his t-shirt having ridden up. They were finally interrupted by a sharp knock at the door.

Clint groaned. “I don't suppose there’s any chance we can turn off the lights and pretend we’re not in?”

Coulson huffed a laugh and pressed a quick kiss to the hollow of Clint's throat. “None whatsoever.” He moved off the bed and grimaced, before readjusting his clothing as best he could.

The knock came again and Coulson raised an eyebrow at Clint. Clint was clearly tempted to lie in a thoroughly debauched manner, in full view of the door, but decided at the last moment that he'd already improved Coulson's reputation enough for one day, and headed into the bathroom.

“Not interrupting, am I?” May asked.

“No.” May looked him up and down. Coulson barely twitched. “Did you want something?”

May handed over a tablet. “I thought you'd want to see this.”

Coulson quickly flicked through the information and nodded absently. It looked like they were closer than ever to actually getting some answers.

“I'll be out to brief the team in a minute.”

“After you’ve changed?” May suggested, with just a hint of a smile. Coulson closed the door in her face.

“Duty calls, I take it?” Clint asked.

Coulson started to nod as he turned, then stopped and stared. “Were you standing like that the whole time May was here?”

Clint shrugged and stepped further into the room. “It's not the first time she's seen me naked.”

“You're not quite so feverish, this time,” Coulson pointed out.

“Aren't I?” Clint asked with a grin.

Coulson fondly shook his head. “I would love to stay but...”

Clint moved quicker than Coulson was expecting, pulling him forward by his tie and kissing him, hard and fast. When they pulled apart they were both breathless, and Coulson looked a little dazed.

“I'll be here when you get back,” Clint said. “And you can fill me in on your plan.”

“Plan?”

“You always have a plan. And you're going to keep me posted every step of the way.”

Coulson was sure there was an argument somewhere for why that wouldn't work, but he had absolutely no idea what that might be.

“I'm not asking you not to put your life in danger,” Clint said, addressing the floor rather than looking at Coulson's face, “but you're the Director of SHIELD now. You have people whose job it is to take those risks for you.”

“That's not the way I want to do things.”

“I'm not sure you have a choice.”

Coulson didn’t reply. Instead he started to strip out of his suit and try to find another that looked almost identical. No point feeding into the gossip if he didn't have to.

“You realise you work with a bunch of spies?” Clint asked with a laugh. “Everyone knows what we've been doing.”

Coulson waited until he had smoothed down his tie before answering. “I don't care about them knowing, but there's been too much focusing on what I'm up to lately. I'd rather everyone put their energies elsewhere for the time being.”

“Okay,” Clint replied.

Coulson smiled at him. “Are you really going to stay there like that? I can't be sure how long I'll be.”

Clint slowly moved a hand along his chest and down his thigh. “I'm sure I can find something to distract myself with.”

Coulson hurriedly stepped forward and drew Clint into a searing kiss.

“I'm glad you're here,” he said once they'd moved apart, foreheads touching.

“The quicker you leave, the sooner you'll be back.”

“I suppose so,” Coulson replied, so petulantly that Clint had to steal another quick kiss.

“Go,” Clint said.

“I'll be back as soon as I can,” Coulson promised. As he walked towards the door he chanced a quick look back at Clint before he left the room, searing the image into his memory, before putting his Director persona fully back in place and heading towards the briefing room.

There were many things he regretted, both things he'd done and things he hadn't, but he was absolutely determined that his relationship with Clint wasn't going to be one of them. They'd both come too far and sacrificed too much. It was time to live life as fully as he could, and if that meant tackling the darkness of the world head on, then that's exactly what he'd do.


End file.
